Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today it seemed like just the right time to check back in on The Demon Girl Next Door, and see how our strange assortment of demons and magical girls are fairing. Last episode offered up some charming bonding moments between Shamiko, Mikan, and Ancestor, as the three of them checked out a zombie movie and worked on mitigating Mikan’s curse. We also got to see some delightful pettiness out of Momo, as she pouted in the most deadpan way possible upon learning that Mikan was hanging out with her friend without her.

Momo’s increasing sense of jealousy over Shamiko is delightful, a soothing tonic for my romance-hungry heart. It’s also nice to see both Ancestor and Shamiko establishing themselves in the overall group dynamic, which has in turn served to further underline the oppressive nature of this whole magical paradigm. Ancestor has clearly been traumatized by centuries of perpetual failure, while Mikan’s curse serves as a tidy metaphor for the demands put upon even the theoretically favored individuals in this system. An “ideal girl” is quiet, demure, and spotless, in contrast with the loud and agency-demanding women who are condemned as demons. For Mikan, even a hint of dramatic emotions is immediately punished with disaster, turning the patriarchal demand that women be quiet and well-behaved into a literal curse upon her. Demon Girl is clearly not finished articulating its grand magical girl metaphor, and I can’t wait to see what insights and goofiness are up next. Let’s get to it!

Episode 10

We open on Shamiko waking up after oversleeping, leading into that classic “running with toast in your mouth” gag. At this point, I feel usage of this gag carries an implication of a soft reset, or rather the arrival at a “new normal” regarding a show’s character dynamic. It’s such a mundane occurrence in anime that it actually carries a charge of “mundanity achieved,” which in this case would refer to Shamiko having settled into her new friendships with Momo, Mikan, and Ancestor

That’s followed by a “the more things change, the more they stay the same” beat, as Shamiko once again refuses to use her embarrassing Crisis Management form. This all feels like it could be a genuine season opening, not just an episode opening

That one-two punch of reasserting normality reveals its purpose as Shamiko explains Momo’s original mission. Mikan’s introduction has concluded, and now we’re back to the exercise grind

Shamiko’s tail forking out when she’s excited is extremely good. They’ve gotten incredible comedic mileage out of that dang tail

Speaking of good recurring jokes, Momo using her magical girl compact to store screws and loose change is also fantastic

They actually turn the variable animation quality into a joke in its own right – Momo’s lusciously animated transformation sequence segues directly into a two-frame cycle of her repeatedly shaking a jar, an effect that further underlines the ridiculousness of her using this form just to enhance her protein shake-mixing abilities

This episode feels more like Teekyu in its pacing, just a manic barrage of visual gags

Alrighty, whew, here’s the OP. My heart can’t take this pacing!

“Ancestor Evolves! A Pair of Glasses Reflect Within a Dark Lab!” Looks like it’s finally time for Ogura to complete that ritual

And yep, here she is immediately, complete with a threatening purple aura. I suppose it makes sense that in the world of Demon Girl, an actual mundane human is the most threatening character

We learn that Ogura is a scholastic wizard and an ethical nightmare, and is also very, very interested in conducting some experiments with Shamiko

“In the worst case, we’ll steal whatever seems useful and wipe away her memories of today.” Momo getting violently protective of Shamiko is always good, as is this reminder of Momo’s own dubious morality. The two of them have interestingly skewed views on morality – Momo seems to have somewhat internalized the take-no-prisoners, might-makes-right ethos of the magical girl community, whereas perpetual victim Shamiko actually has a strong code of ethics. I suppose the stronger you are, the more you get to define your own brand of justice

Momo takes one look at Ogura’s lab and pulls out her gun (wand)

“At the moment, I’m serving as Shamiko’s producer. If you want to do anything to her, you’ll have to get my approval first.” Momo is becoming more possessive by the second, and it is wonderful

Ancestor actually agrees to experimentation, stating that “I want to find a way to escape the cycle of oppression we’ve been stuck in.” Through the friendship of Shamiko and Momo, Ancestor has actually come to repudiate this whole demon/magical girl paradigm. And Shamiko isn’t even getting stronger to fight Momo at this point – she’s doing it to help protect their town together

“This is raw clay that’s used to make homunculi. It’s some leftovers from another of my failed experiments.” Ogura is undoubtedly the scariest member of this cast

Shamiko kneading this pulsating meat-clay like it’s a loaf of bread is an image that’s probably going to stay with me

Oh my god, Ancestor’s limbed form is so horrifying. Why would you create this. What has science wrought

Oh god now it’s skittering around like a facehugger, KILL IT KILL IT

They even compliment her with horrible spider-movement sound effects, this is the worst thing ever

Meanwhile, Momo has been busy sculpting a genuinely adorable model for Ancestor. Actually, now that I look at it, it seems she’s sculpted what Momo and Shamiko’s daughter might look like – demon girl horns, but a little peach heart at the end of her tail. God damn, Momo

But since Momo’s magic is fueling this form, Momo can also control it. “Lilith-san, do a cute little dance for us”

Ancestor finds herself enjoying this nonsense in spite of herself. She is well on her way to becoming a true mascot character

Demon Girl slips into full iyashikei mode as Shamiko’s mother describes her excitement at having saved up enough shopping center points to get a full set of matching plates. I mean, I feel her frustration, it’s extremely annoying to have an unmatched collection of plates!

I’m noticing some interesting lighting effects in this episode – in both Ogura’s introduction and this fantasy of Momo condemning Shamiko, they’ve employed a trick of desaturating the colors while simultaneously amplifying the shading, which essentially serves as a sort of horror movie shorthand

And gosh, Shamiko’s fear of confronting Momo about the malfunctioning laptop is so sad! While Momo is clearly pretty deeply into Shamiko at this point, it seems like Shamiko still doesn’t fully trust Momo. I suppose the show has been drawing a great deal of humor out of “demon girl terrified of magical girl,” so it’ll be interesting to see if the comedy shifts a bit as their relationship develops

“You’re eating junk food for lunch again! I can’t take my eye off you for a second!” Shamiko certainly does feel a sense of responsibility towards Momo, at least when she’s not being terrorized by exercise regimes

A lovely earnest moment here, as Shamiko asks Momo not to reveal she’s a magical girl, because Shamiko doesn’t want to damage her image as Ryo’s reliable big sister. I imagine Ryo has already accepted that her sister is a screwup, but it’s cute that Shamiko is still trying

“If you ask me, the one who suffers the most is the person who keeps secrets from their loved ones.” Great responses by Momo as well – she’s not simply accepting Shamiko’s terms, she’s pushing back with suggestions as to what would truly make Shamiko the happiest. You have to reach a certain point of genuinely caring about someone before you’d bother disagreeing with them on personal matters like this

But of course, Ryo already knows this truth. Her unerring faith in her sister has led her to interpret this whole situation as “Momo has been recruited into Shamiko’s army,” which… isn’t exactly wrong?

Seeing Ryo’s beaming face, Momo can’t help but agree with her. “There are some smiles in the world we have to protect”

Yeah, even Momo agrees that Ryo’s basically got the measure of this situation down

Oh, I love their exit here. Shamiko first grumbles that she’s “even more indebted” to Momo now, to which Momo responds “if you feel that way, cook me more food when you come over next time.” Momo doesn’t want their relationship to be transactional – she just wants them to look out for each other, without worry about “paying back” any perceived favor. And then she follows that up with “it’s a lord’s duty to feed their subordinates. Isn’t that right, Shadow Mistress,” which is just the most outrageously flirty way to end this encounter. Momo can no longer contain herself

In order to live up to her sister’s image, Shamiko resolves to learn more about Momo

And Done

God, Momo has got it bad, huh? I knew she was totally infatuated with Shamiko, but I didn’t realize she was “you know what, considering myself a demon girl’s subordinate actually works fine for me” infatuated. Though Shamiko considers Momo to be an imposing and unassailable presence, so far it’s actually been Momo that’s most benefited from this relationship – and through moments like that conversation about honesty with Ryo, it’s clear that Momo is now doing her best to provide that same support for Shamiko in turn. Unfortunately, it seems that Shamiko is so certain of her own unsuitability that she can’t realize how much Momo already values her – which means Momo might have to get even more direct in expressing her feelings. Good luck, love-struck magical girl!

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